


My Eyes Adored You

by thezaynlife



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kid Fic, Minor Character Death, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-17 08:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3522959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thezaynlife/pseuds/thezaynlife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn Malik has three young boys and needs someone to take care of them while he works. Harry Styles is in need of a job and happens to work well with kids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Eyes Adored You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JustR](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustR/gifts).



> For JustR. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title from the song of the same name by The Four Seasons. Many thanks to my beta!

Zayn Malik had a love/hate relationship with summer. He loved feeling the sun warm up his skin, loved seeing all the children playing with sprinklers in their yards, loved getting ice cream with his sons and rushing to eat it before it became a puddle of stickiness, everyone getting brain freeze from going too fast. But he also hated getting so sweaty doing nothing at all. Hated how cranky the public got when the sun beamed a little too hard some days, hated how the house  needed air conditioning constantly to feel livable, racking up huge bills each month. Most of all, he hated how there was no school to keep his boys occupied for six hours every day.

 

Handling three boys under the age of ten was a job all in itself. Zayn loved his sons to death, of course, would die for them and kill anyone who tried to hurt them, but they were _exhausting._ Louis was a handful all on his own, he loved to get into trouble and cause mischief at any given moment. If there was a loud crash in the house, it was usually caused by Louis. Liam tried to be helpful around the house, was definitely the most responsible out of the three boys, but he was easily persuaded to do something bad with Louis, just telling him that it was bad without really trying at all to stop Louis. Niall was the baby and of course the most doted upon because of it, Louis and Liam were extremely protective of him which wasn’t that necessary because Niall never came across another kid who didn’t like him.

 

Zayn sighed heavily, looking at the destroyed living room. Papers were everywhere, toys on every available surface and someone, _probably Louis_ , Zayn thought, had drawn on the walls with crayon. There was a broken vase on the floor in the corner, and all three boys were standing in the center of the room with their heads down, fidgeting quietly.

 

“Who is responsible for the vase?” Zayn asked calmly, arms crossed over his chest. None of the boys moved to speak, Liam biting his lip in an attempt to force himself quiet. “I won’t ask again.”

 

“It was Louis!”  
  
“Liam!” Louis snapped, smacking his arm. “Papa, it wasn’t me this time!” On the other side of Louis, Niall gave a soft sob, hiccuping. He looked up with tears down his cheeks, face screwing up as he made eye contact with Zayn.

 

“It was an accident!” Niall wailed into his hands and Zayn’s face softened and he kneeled.

 

“Come here baby.” He held his arms out and Niall blindly walked into them. “Thank you for being a big boy and telling me.” Zayn pulled Niall back, wiping off tears with his thumbs. “But you’re still getting a punishment for breaking the vase, because you know that’s wrong. No desserts for one week.” Niall snuffled, exhaling shakily and rubbing the last of his tears off his red cheeks.

 

“‘M sorry, baba.” Zayn hugged Niall again, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of his head.

 

“Now let’s clean this room up, hmm? Don’t touch that vase, Liam!” A second later, Liam yelped in pain, holding onto his bleeding hand. “Oh, come here.” Zayn walked Liam  to the bathroom, cupping his small hand with his own.

 

“I was just trying to help.” He whispered, trying to hold his tears back. “It really hurts, dad.”

 

“I know, Li, but you know better than to touch broken shards, it’s too easy to get cut.” Zayn turned on the tap and picked Liam up a bit to have better access to the sink, pinning him to the counter with a hip while he dug through the cabinet for peroxide and band aids. “Okay, mister, Batman or Spiderman?”

 

“Batman!” Zayn poured the peroxide over the cut and Liam hissed in pain, trying to curl his fingers in and pull away but Zayn’s grip was a fair bit stronger. He kept pouring until it stopped fizzing and then applied the bandaid, pressing a kiss to it when he finished.

 

“All better?”

 

“Yeah, thanks dad.”

 

“Good, now let’s see what kind of disaster your brothers have made of the living room while we’ve been gone.”

 

As it turned out, Louis and Niall hasn't done much of anything in the few minutes it had taken to clean and bandage Liam's cut. Niall had gotten distracted by one of the toys laying on the ground and Louis was reading a crumpled piece of paper.

 

"Okay boys, let's get this place clean!" Zayn turned on the radio, dialing in the Top 40 station and made it loud enough to be decent background noise. He got the dustpan and picked up the huge chunks of broken vase, sweeping up the smaller slivers while Liam helped Louis round the papers up and Niall put all the toys back in their designated bin.

 

~

 

Harry Styles hunched over his laptop, curling his long legs beneath him as he searched for jobs. His last job had been food service, but after he ate more food than he sold and grew out his hair too much, they’d let him go. It hadn’t been that big of a deal honestly, it was fast food and the managers were complete shitheads. The fact that he got a 15% discount instead of free food didn’t help, he was already working there he shouldn’t have to pay on top of it.

He typed in his milage specifications in relation to his house on the job search engine. He didn’t want to work _too_ far away from his place, within walking distance would be the most preferable because it was nice out this time of year and he enjoyed getting the exercise and fresh air.

 

HIRING MANAGERS!

 

LOOKING FOR DRIVERS!

 

MODELS WANTED!

 

Harry scrolled down the list with eyes half glazed over. None of the jobs in the long list were interesting him. He eyed the model ad, opening it in a new tab to look over later.

 

SEARCHING FOR CARETAKER!

 

At that title, Harry sat up straighter, suddenly interested. He could babysit! He even had CPR training from his weekend gig as a lifeguard at the community pool last month. He loved kids and kids loved him, or so he hoped. It was always hard for him to understand kids sometimes, but he enjoyed babysitting his cousins which was really more hanging out with slightly younger friends than having any sort of authority over them. It was fun, regardless. Harry clicked on the link, reading the ad.

 

THREE BOYS AGES 5-10. NEEDED MONDAY - FRIDAY, 9 - 5. RELIABLE TRANSPORTATION REQUIRED AS THE BOYS ARE INVOLVED IN MANY ACTIVITIES THEY NEED TO BE DRIVEN TO. NO PETS. PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL TO SET UP MEETING.

 

Short and to the point, Harry thought. He stared at the page, thinking to himself. Eight hours a day, five days a week was a lot of working. Forty hours of work per week. Depending on the hourly rate, that was going to be a decent amount of money just for babysitting. Grabbing his phone beside him on the desk, Harry punched in the numbers listed and gave it a ring. It rang about six times and was nearly about to go to the machine when someone picked up.

 

“‘Lo?” _Fuck_ , Harry thought briefly, _they sound hot._ “Hello?”

 

“Hi, I was calling about the ad for the babysitter?” Harry answered, pressing his palm to his face, feeling like an idiot already.

 

“Oh, well alright. I’ve three boys, Louis, Liam and Niall. Jus’ me and them. They do loads of games and lessons so you have a car, right?”

 

“Yeah, sure.” He, in fact, did not have a car, but he figured he could get keys off Gemma or in a real pinch, Nick.

 

“Alright, when are you free to come over?” Harry thought it over in his head before remembering he didn’t do anything, and his schedule was completely open.

 

“I’m free whenever would be easiest for you.” He replied and he heard them hum on the other side and rustling papers, probably sifting through a calendar like a normal adult. Harry had a calendar on his wall of course but it was still on March with the picture of the hottest guy on the entire calendar. He’d rather look at his phone for the date, and he never kept appointments for anything so it wasn’t like he needed to write things like that down.

 

“Tomorrow? At three? That way all the boys will be home and you can meet them.”

 

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

 

“M’name’s Zayn, by the way.” He, Zayn, said and Harry mulled it over in his mind. _Zayn._ Even his name sounded hot.

 

“I’m Harry.”

 

“Well, then I’ll see you tomorrow, Harry.” He rattled off the address and Harry wrote it on the back of his hand.

 

“Right, bye.” Harry hung up and grinned. He was going to get this job, he could be ultra charming when he wanted to be, and even when he didn’t. His middle name was charming. Well, it was Edward, but Harry liked to think charming was his second middle name. He set the phone down, closing out the model ad and job search website, changing course and starting up Netflix to continue his marathon of all the shows and movies on his ever growing list.

 

~

 

The next day, Harry spent a good two hours painstakingly selecting what he would wear, eventually ending up with a black button down with only two buttons loose, tight black jeans and shiny black boots. He was one hundred percent planning on looking as stunning as possible to at least get the job by being really attractive, it generally worked out for him and he wasn’t about to stop his tried and true methods now.

 

“Hat or no hat?” He asked his reflection, putting the wide brimmed hat on top of his curls and then removing it, considering the look before putting it back, then taking it off again. He looked at his bed, thinking about wearing a scarf, grabbing the closest one and tying it up in his hair, setting his hands on his waist, dropping his shoulders with a huff and taking it back off. “Hair up?” He wagered, pushing it up with his hands, turning his head left and right to take in the look and dropped his hand with a groan, shaking his hair out.

 

He was regretting living on his own because he really needed someone to soundboard off of, considering facetiming Nick so he could judge the look. Just as he was about to ring him, his phone rang and of course it was Nick.

 

“My ears are _burning_ , what are you gonna wear?” Harry smiled into the phone, Nick always had a wild sixth sense to know whenever Harry needed him.

 

“I’ve gone with a black button down, those black jeans I love and my black boots.” Harry explained, looking into the mirror at his choices.

 

“Ooh, going in for the kill, Styles? Sheer shirt?”

 

“No, regular.” Nick hummed and Harry had second choices about it. “Should I?”

 

“Well do you intend on sleeping with the dad or do you just want the job?”

 

“I am not that bad about dads, Nicholas!” Harry flushed and Nick laughed.

 

“You _are_ though, Harry. You love dads and you know it.”

 

“I do.” He sighed, trying to roll up his sleeves with one hand, phone pressed between his ear and his shoulder.

 

“Did he sound hot?”

 

“He frankly has a weird accent, it’s hot but I feel like when I see him face to face I can know for sure if I could be down for that or not.”

 

“Harry, you’ve got a weird accent, you talk too slow and go off on tangents too easily. You have no room to judge a man’s accent.”

 

“You love my accent, Nick.”

 

“You keep telling yourself that, Harry. Now, are you wearing that god awful huge black hat?”

 

“Awful?!” Harry squeaked, petting the hat in question like it could get offended by Nick’s words. “That hat looks great on me!”

 

“Again, keep telling yourself that.”

 

“You’re the worst friend ever, I’m hanging up now.”

 

“Wouldn’t it work better to just hang up instead of te-” Harry pressed end call smugly and a minute later he got a text message that said ‘PRICK!!’ with several poop emojis. Harry just sent a heart eyed emoji and put the phone in his pocket. He picked up the hat and put it on just to spite Nick, grinning at his reflection, then tossing the hat back on the bed and walking out the door. He was going to be late if he didn’t get a move on.

~

 

Zayn was sitting with the boys, watching Pirates of the Caribbean for the millionth time. The boys loved to act scenes out, Louis was always Norrington, Liam liked being Will and Niall pretended to be both Pintel and Ragetti and the boys made Zayn be Jack which he never minded as Johnny Depp was always a favourite. He was fairly confident in his Jack Sparrow impression, gestures and all. The movie was about half over when the front bell rang.

 

“Coming!” Zayn called out, walking drunkenly to the delighted giggles of the other boys and then opening the door professionally. He had to control his face from showing his surprise, as the person he assumed had to be Harry was wearing all black skin tight clothing, even in this heat. After a moment, Zayn remembered himself. “Harry, right?”

 

“That’s right. Zayn?” Harry drawled, grinning amicably and holding out one hand. Zayn nodded, shaking the hand briskly, tilting his head into the house and waving Harry in.

 

“Come on, we’re watching a film. Boys!”

 

“What are you watching?”

 

“Pirates of the Caribbean!” Liam yelled excitedly as he skidded into the entryway, Louis and Niall on his heels.

  
“Ah, that's the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow. You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum.”

 

“Welcome to the Caribbean, love.” Zayn replied with a grin and a wide spread of his hands.

 

“You know Elizabeth’s parts! Good we need her!” Louis grinned, looking between Harry and Zayn.

 

“Boys, this is Harry. If all goes well, he’ll be looking after you on weekdays when I work.”

 

“Hi, Harry!” The three greeted with waves and grins, hopping up on the balls of their feet.

 

“This is Louis,” Zayn pointed at the boy on the end with that bowl cut that was popular with boys his age. Harry had one then. “Liam,” He pointed at the tallest one with a hint of curl at the end of his slightly shaggy hair, “And Niall.” Finally he pointed out the last and shortest boy, short blonde hair sticking up every which way.

 

“‘Lo, boys! Now tell me, which one of you likes cookies the most?” Harry bent at the waist, putting hands on his knees. Niall jumped up and down with his hand raised and Liam and Louis pushed at each other in order to be the one who raised their hand higher.

 

“Me! Me!”

 

“No, I do!”

 

“No, it’s me!”

 

“Boys!” Zayn laughed, shaking his head fondly. Immediately they calmed down, though still looking excited at the prospect of cookies.

 

“I made these myself.” He dug a small box out of his shoulder bag, turning to Zayn. “Is it okay to give them a treat, or is dinner soon? Any peanut allergies?” All three boys looked hopefully at Zayn, Louis putting his hands together to plead.

 

“It’s only three, I think they should be fine. And no, they are all allergy free, thankfully.” At that, Louis, Liam and Niall all cheered, taking cookies from Harry with glee, biting into them and dropping crumbs all down their fronts.

 

“I brought you one, if you like.” Harry smiled charmingly, holding out a cookie for Zayn, biting into one for himself. Zayn took it hospitably, biting into it to be polite but actually enjoying the flavour, it wasn’t a regular cookie, it felt like it was several cookies at once, like some sort of Frankenstein hybrid cookie.

 

“This is good!”

 

“I like it!”

 

“What is it?” Niall asked and Harry kneeled down.

 

“They’re called mash-ups, at least that’s what my mum calls them, because they’re like loads of cookies in just one!”

 

“Can I have another one?” Niall asked with a grin, crumbs all over his face.

 

“I only brought enough for one each. Maybe later you can help me make some!” Harry said, poking Niall’s bellybutton and brushing crumbs off Niall before standing up. “If I get through the interview process, that is.” He grinned to Zayn as the boys ran back to the movie, falling back into it like they hadn’t walked away.

 

“Well, have you sat for kids before?”  
  


“I’ve looked after my niece.” He wasn’t exactly alone with her, Anne was in the house but she was sick so it was like Harry had her by himself. “I’ve got my CPR certificate, too. Just in case, but fingers crossed I won’t need it.” Harry said, actually crossing his fingers.

 

“All right. What do you do outside of this?”

 

“Well, I’m in law school, but I don’t know if that’s really for me. I don’t much like arguing, and learning all the jargon and cases is exhausting, but my mum really wanted me to be a lawyer, so I did it to make her happy.”

 

“I know what that’s like. I was in pre-med before I told mine that blood made me queasy and I wanted to teach. Turned out she just wanted me to do what made me happy, and as long as I was happy, so was she.” Zayn smiled and lit up as he talked about his mom and Harry grinned, definitely relating to the feeling. “Are you taking summer classes?”

 

“Oh, hell no. I need some breathing room away from all that or I would go absolutely mad. I wouldn’t be here taking a 9 - 5 if I was.”

 

“Does that mean in the fall you’ll be leaving, then?” Harry considered the possibility, shrugging.

 

“Most likely, if I haven’t decided to change my major this summer.”

 

“Well, that’s a lot way off, let’s get through the summer and see what happens then.”

 

“Does that mean I’m in?” He grinned, leaning back onto his heels, clasping his hands behind his back and Zayn nodded with a grin.

 

“Twenty an hour sound alright with you?” Harry choked, eyebrows flying up to his hairline.

 

“I couldn’t ask you for that, ten is more than fine!”

 

“I insist, you’re going to be here for eight hours five days a week, I’d prefer you be well compensated for it.”

 

“Well, thank you, then.”

 

“All right, start tomorrow morning? 9 A.M.?” Zayn asked with a hand out and Harry shook it with a nod.

 

“I’ll be there!” That had been the easiest job interview of his entire life, Harry thought as he walked out the door. “Goodbye, boys!” He called out and the three called out their goodbyes to him before Zayn waved as he shut the door. He already liked the boys and Zayn was fine as hell. He had to call Nick about this.

 

~

 

“I got it!” Harry yelled before Nick could even greet him, standing at the bus stop, visibly shaking with energy.

 

“Congrats, did you charm the pants off Dad yet?”

 

“His name’s _Zayn._ ”

 

“ _Oh, Zayn!_ ”

 

“Why I put up with you.” Harry trailed off as he got onto the bus and Nick snorted.

 

“Because I put up with _you._ ” Harry had to admit he had a point there, his personality was a lot on a good day. He was good at making friends, keeping any close was the real issue. “I mean it though, good job. Now go fuck that hot dad, young man.” Harry laughed, clamping a hand over his mouth when the people around him turned his way.

 

“Chill out, Nick. I _just_ got hired. He’s like my boss.”

 

“Everyone knows sex with your boss is one of the best ways out there.”

 

“Only because you’re married to yours!”

 

“Well, yeah!”

 

“You’re honestly hopeless, Nick.”

 

"You love me." Harry sighed, pressing his fingers to his eyelids. Nick was like the older brother he never wanted.

 

"Shut up, idiot." He hung up with a goodbye, getting off at the next stop to walk the last few blocks to his flat.

 

~

 

Harry showed up ten minutes early the next day to Zayn carrying Niall upside down by the waist, laughing as Niall giggled and shrieked, afraid of being dropped but knowing he wouldn't be. Liam was finger painting in the kitchen with Louis helpfully splotching colours all over it and Liam.

 

"Harry!" Niall yelled, turning his head to try to look at him right side up and giving up, kicking his feet to be set down and nearly clocking Zayn in the head.

 

"Woah there, Nialler!" Zayn twisted Niall down onto his feet and he ran up to Harry with a red face and hair sticking up, climbing up his legs and Harry instinctively grabbed him, settling him on a hip.

 

"Oof! Hello to you too, Niall!" He dug around in his pocket and produced a lolly, handing it to him conspiratorially, grinning over to Zayn. Niall promptly unwrapped it with the finesse of a boy who unwrapped many a lolly in his short life, popping it in his mouth and setting his head gently on Harry's shoulder with a hum.

 

"Thanks for being a little early, I was about to sit him in front of The Little Mermaid in a minute so I could get ready."

 

"Of course, go on then I've got 'em." Harry said, walking in to the kitchen to greet Liam and Louis with their lollies, Louis unwrapping the one for Liam and sticking it in his open mouth so he wouldn't get paint on it.

 

"How does everyone feel about Mary Poppins?" Harry asked as he watched Louis try to ruin Liam's painting but Liam just incorporated every spatter into the design.

 

"I wuv it!" Niall exclaimed around his sweet and Liam nodded.

 

"I like the drawn bits." Louis added and Harry set Niall on the counter, far enough away from the paints.

 

"What about Atlantis?"

 

"What's that?"

 

"Wha-" Harry gasped, putting a hand to his chest. "You've never seen Atlantis? It's amazing! We're watching that one first, Mary can wait." Harry dug around in his bag, producing the DVD with a flourish. Zayn came strolling in wearing a crisp green button up with the sleeves rolled up exposing all his tattoos. Harry stared a little longer than should really be allowed before ripping his eyes away, Louis looking at him with a strange expression on his face. When Harry drew his brows in questioning, Louis simply looked away.

 

"What were you talking about?" Zayn asked as he filled up a to go cup with coffee.

 

"Your sons have evidently never seen Atlantis."

 

"I haven't either." Zayn admitted with a shrug, taking a sip of coffee and wincing at the heat but taking another sip regardless.

 

"Okay family screening it is, Atlantis is a classic! Much better than a lot of the over hyped movies lately. Now we have to wait for your dad to watch with us." Harry said to the boys and they nodded happily, not minding in the slightest. Zayn laughed and kissed the boys on the top of the head, grabbing his bag and waving to Harry before walking out the door. "What about superhero movies?"

 

Liam lit up like a Christmas tree, grinning. "The Dark Knight!"

 

"No, the first Iron Man!"

 

"I like Thor."

 

"I'm partial to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, myself." Harry added and Niall nodded his agreement to that one too.

 

"Do you have it?" Liam asked looking hopeful, "Ours broke and dad won't buy a new one to teach us a lesson." Harry produced the Blu-Ray version of Natasha by herself on the cover with a grin.

 

“Yes! We’re watching that now!” Louis cheered, jumping down from his seat and made to run to the living room.

 

“Ah!” Harry said and Louis froze, knowing the tone. “Wash your hands off, you too Liam. No paint on the couch! Do you have popcorn?” Liam and Louis squished together to wash their hands off in the kitchen sink and Louis tilted his chin at a cupboard by the fridge.

 

“We’ve got regular, extra butter and kettle in that cabinet.” Harry chose a box at random, sticking one in the microwave to pop up, waiting to get the other three in. As Harry went through bags, he handed them to the boys, telling them to let it cool as they rushed to the couch. When the last bag was ready, he followed them to the living room and put the movie in, pressing start and getting comfortable on the couch, Niall on one side and Liam on the other with Louis on a pile of pillows on the floor.

 

~

 

The credits rolled and the boys all shouted out movie titles to watch while they waited for the final scene.

 

“No, after this we’re going on a trip!” Harry said, clapping his hands together.

 

“Where?!”

 

“It’s a secret! It will be lots of fun, I promise!” The end credits scene showed and Liam shushed everyone, waving a hand as Bucky stared at his own picture and then the screen blacked out. “Alright, boys. Let’s get these bags thrown out and get going!” Liam took all the empty popcorn bags from everyone, throwing them away. Harry helped Niall put on socks and tied his light up trainers. “Ready?” He took Niall’s hand and ushered Liam and Louis out the door, locking it with some difficulty having never done it before. Finally getting it locked with a cheer, Harry walked along, the boys trailing behind him like little ducks as they walked through the streets.

 

Harry had prepared, searching for activities to do in close vicinity of the house so they could go out and not stay cooped up inside. There were a lot more things than Harry would’ve had thought, but most were not really something three boys ten and under would want to do, like visiting the museum or going to the greenhouse.

 

“Harry, I’m tired.” Niall said with a sigh, starting to drag behind after only five minutes. Louis scoffed ahead of them, rounding back to help drag Niall along.

 

“Niall’s not tired he’s just bored.”

 

“We’re almost there, just wait another minute.”

 

After they rounded the corner, Liam made a noise of recognition, turning to look hopefully up at Harry, who only grinned in response and nodded. Liam pumped a fist into the air and took off down the sidewalk, Louis chasing after him. Niall made to follow and tried to pull Harry along. Liam stood in front of the door for Jerome’s Arcade and Pizzaria, jumping up on the balls of his feet in excitement.

 

“The arcade! Dad never lets us go to the arcade, he hates how loud the other kids are!” Liam was nearly going to jump out of his skin soon so Harry opened the door and the three of them rushed in, adding their delighted screams to the deafening roar. They waited in the short queue and Harry ordered a large pizza to split and four game cards, loaded with plenty of credits each.

 

The girl with her overly fake smile handed him the cards and taped lime green wrist bands on all their arms, handing Harry a little tented sign with their pizza number on it. They chose a table and Harry set the little plastic tent on it and let Louis and Liam run off but making Niall stay close, holding his hand. He let Niall pull him to the skee-ball game and swiped Niall’s card in and the game lit up.

 

“Be careful to not accidently throw the ball behind you.” Harry advised Niall who gripped the little ball with determination, sticking his tongue out. He threw his arm back and let the ball sail down the aisle, sinking it into the closest five point zone. “Good job, but put a little shoulder into it.” Harry said, miming the throw and watched Niall copy him until it looked similar. “Now try again.” This time when Niall threw the ball, it sunk in the center thirty point hole and Niall jumped in glee.

 

“I did it!”

 

“You did! Good job! Wanna try for the hard fifty pointer?” He pointed to the corners where the hardest shots were. Niall tried hard to get the balls into the corners but never quite made it. After his last ball sank in the twenty point hole, he slumped in defeat.

 

“It’s impossible, I don’t wanna play anymore.”

 

“That’s fine, let’s go find something fun.” Harry led Niall away and went for some of the driving games. “Wanna race?”

 

“Yeah!” He scrambled up onto the chair, grinning to Harry beside him on the partnering chair. They slid the cards through and picked their characters and cars, then set off on the race. Harry kept running into the walls every two seconds and Niall had surprisingly good coordination for a five year old.

 

“How did you beat me?” Harry asked when they finished the race, Niall in third and Harry in dead last.

 

“I play Mario Kart a lot with Liam and Louis. Lou doesn’t play nice so when I can race without him I do okay.”

 

“Let’s go get some tickets, I wanna get a prize, how about you?” Harry asked as he got up off the chair, helping Niall down.

 

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Niall dragged Harry to the closest game that would spit out tickets. Harry pressed the button that dropped a ball down, watching it bounce down pegs and tried to collect it in a little bucket at the bottom, failing the first time. “Let me try!” Niall said, grabbing the handle. The ball bounced down the pegs and Niall moved the basket wit it no matter where it went and when the ball came close, he kept with it intensely and it slid directly into the bucket, making the lights flash and a siren ring.

 

“Wow, I’m impressed, do that again, look how many tickets you got!” Niall grinned and then focused on the game, following the ball and getting it in the bucket again. The machine spit of another long string of tickets and Niall broke them off, bored of that game already. Harry meticulously folded them so they would be easy to handle and by the time he finished folding them back up, Niall had another long string. “Okay, you’re too good at this I’m concerned now.” Niall laughed, handing Harry his tickets before bouncing off to another game.

 

“Order 36, your pizza has been delivered.”

 

“That’s us! Niall, come on.” Harry waved for him, taking his smaller train of tickets and searched through the crowd for Louis and Liam, finding them at the basketball game, failing miserably. “Come on boys, pizza!”

 

“Hold on, ten more seconds!” Louis called and Liam tried to make another basket, missing completely. Louis winged the ball back above his head and let it fly, it bounced off the rim but didn’t make it in. “Ugh, this game sucks.”

 

“You’re just not tall enough yet.” Harry tried to placate, it didn’t seem like that hard of a game really, they were just too short to get the ball in the hoop. “Do you have any tickets?” Liam dug in his pockets for his squished tickets and Louis shook his head, he hadn’t played any games that gave any. They walked back to their table and Harry started counting the tickets while the boys ate the pizza, chewing on his own slice thoughtfully as he counted.

 

“How many do we have?” Liam asked, face covered in grease. Harry wiped it off with a napkin and Liam got more on him as he took another bite.

 

“Three hundred and forty-seven. That’s pretty good for only about ten minutes!”

  
“Wow! What sort of prizes do they have?”

 

“I didn’t see, but when we’re done, let’s go check.” The boys rushed eating their slices, rubbing napkins over their faces to clean them and waited impatiently for Harry to finish his piece before running back to the back of the arcade where the prize wall was. Harry followed with a laugh, juggling all the tickets in his arms. “Is there a way to exchange these in, I’m running out of arm space.” He joke with the girl behind the counter and she smiled prettily, taking the tickets from him and feeding them into a machine behind the counter. A moment later, it spit out a receipt, stating the number of tickets it had eaten and Harry stuck it into his pocket with a grin.

 

“I want sweets!” Niall exclaimed as he looked at the cheapest shelf with tons of different options for one ticket per piece.

 

“I want that robot!” Liam pointed to a robot up high, way out of their ticket range.

 

“I want that water gun!” Louis pointed at the prize that was much cheaper in tickets and Harry nodded at all their preferences.

 

“Liam, I don’t think we’d ever make that many tickets if we stayed here all day and spent my life savings. Louis, we _might_ be able to squeeze in if we do well, and Niall, you can definitely get some sweets. Let’s go get more tickets, okay?”

 

~

After a good three hours, they had finally run out of credits on their cards, and they each carried huge piles of tickets back to the counter to be sorted.

 

“In the end we’ve got two thousand four hundred and sixty two tickets in all.” Harry’s eyebrows rose to his hairline, shocked at the huge number. It wasn’t anywhere near Liam’s robot, but they could get Louis his water gun, and one for Liam and Niall as well. Liam looked crushed he couldn’t get the robot after all, but the girl took pity on him and threw in a small handful of extra sweets.

 

“I really wanted that robot.” Liam sighed dejectedly, kicking a rock in his path.

 

“What good is a silly old robot anyways?” Louis asked not unkindly for once. “Fun for five minutes and then it’s boring. Now a water gun, that’s endless fun for all time!”

 

“Until it gets cold.” Liam pointed out sullenly and Louis scoffed.

 

“For weak people! A true water gun warrior is never too cold for water gun games.” Liam laughed a little and Louis grinned his success. Harry smiled as he followed up behind, keeping an eye on all three of them, taking Niall’s wrappers as he unwrapped sweet after sweet.

 

“Don’t have too much,” Harry warned, “You’ll get a stomach ache.” Niall looked up at Harry, looked down at his hands then looked in his emptying bag of candied and nodded slowly, chewing the candy in his mouth like it was his last.

 

By the time they got back to the house, it was nearly five. Harry considered his first day a success if the boys’ faces were anything to go by and Harry grinned to himself, pleased with the day. Half an hour later, Zayn came home to the delight of the boys who rushed him as soon as he stepped in the door, regaling him of their day at the same time.

 

“We had so much fun!”

 

“We went to the arcade, dad!”

  
“Harry helped us get these water guns!”

 

“He did, did he?” Zayn asked, looking up at Harry and he tried not to flush under the scrutiny, smiling back easily.

 

“It was nothing, really. Just a few games here and there to get some tickets.”

 

“Thanks. They know I don’t like going there so it’s not often they get to go. I’m glad you could take them.” Zayn smiled gratefully, putting a soft hand on Harry’s arm. Harry balled his hand into a fist to not put his own on top. “How about we go to the park? Harry, you can come, if you like.”

 

“Sure! I love the park.” Louis, Liam and Niall cheered and worked on putting their shoes back on.

 

“I’ll pay you for anything after five.”

 

“It’s no trouble, really. I liked hanging out with them today, they’re loads of fun. A handful or twelve, but they keep me plenty busy, it felt like you just walked out that door.”

 

“I know, they’re great, aren’t they?” Zayn smiled warmly at the three boys and Harry felt his insides melt at the look Zayn was giving them, suddenly desperate for it to be turned on him.

 

“Alright boys, let’s rock and roll!” Zayn said in a silly voice and they giggled, trailing after him. Harry followed up the rear, closing the door behind him.

 

~

 

When they got to the park, Zayn let the boys loose and they all ran off in different directions. Harry walked over to a bench that was close to the boys all doing their own thing and Zayn followed, sitting next to him.

 

“Are they-” Harry started, then didn’t know how to finish his question. “Are you-”

 

“Are they mine, you mean? Biologically?” Harry flushed and nodded. Zayn shook his head. “They’re all adopted. Within the past two years actually. Louis and Liam were kind of a package deal, actually. They were friends in the home and refused to be adopted out without each other. I didn’t mind, the more the merrier, right? Niall’s birth parents were my late wife’s best friends. When they died in the same accident that took her too, I adopted him. We’re a big happy family now, it’s tough some days, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. They’re my sons.”

 

“I can tell they really love you, I’ve only been around them for a day but they really light up when you’re around.” Harry spoke slowly like he was thinking of his words carefully. “That was probably really offensive to ask, I’m sorry.”

 

“Maybe.” Zayn laughed, tongue sticking behind his teeth and eyes crinkling. “I don’t mind, it’s not like a big dirty secret, they all know they’re adopted. I don’t think Liam even remembers his birth parents, he was two when they dropped him off at a church. Louis never knew his. Niall sometimes cries about his parents, he misses them, he still remembers them pretty clearly it was only a year ago that they died.”

 

“I’m so sorry for your loss. Your wife-”

 

“It’s hard, I cope best by not talking about it.” He said with finality and Harry could tell he shouldn’t try to press. “I’m trying to get back out there, the boys really need another parental figure for when I can’t be there but with three young boys, it’s really hard to date.”

 

“I imagine, especially since they’re not quite old enough to babysit each other.”

 

“Liam could probably manage if it was just Niall, he’s easily detained. Louis, on the other hand.” Zayn trailed off and Harry nodded with a laugh. God, that kid was a handful. “I’m gonna grab some ice cream, you want anything?”

 

“Oh, sure. I like cookie dough, if they’ve got it.”  
  
“Everyone has cookie dough. I’ll be right back.” Zayn jogged to where Niall was swinging, grabbing it to ask what ice cream he’d like. Harry stared after Zayn for a long moment then dug around in his bag for the book he’d put in on a whim that morning, glad to have an excuse to hide his face.

 

A minute later, Harry looked up from his book, finding Liam in the sandbox a few feet from him, doing a great job of making himself a sand castle with the small bucket and shovel, taking time to mold and pat down each brick of sand as he made them and digging small details into them with his fingers gently. Over on the playground, Louis was running up the several steps to get to the highest slide in the park. He knocked another little boy out of the way who was standing at the lip of it with wide eyes and a pale face like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to slide down the slide or jump off the ten foot ledge, whichever would kill him easiest.

 

“I’m the king of the playground!” Louis yelled with his arms up and then vaulted into the slide head first, screaming loudly the way down. Harry grinned to himself, looking over to the swings where Niall had been trying to get the swing to do a complete 360.

 

Except Niall wasn’t on the swings.

 

Sitting up straight, Harry craned his neck, taking in a quick sweep of the park, not seeing Niall on the playground, in the sandbox, at the water sprinklers or at the open field where some children were kicking a ball around. His heart beat fast, his gut dropping like a lead weight.

 

“Liam, have you seen Niall?”

 

“No? He was on the swings last I saw him.” Harry stood, doing another slower sweep in case he missed him somehow.

 

“Did he go with your dad?”

 

“I don’t know, why?”

 

“Nothing, just keep making your castle, Liam, it looks great.” Liam tracked Harry as he walked to the playground towards Louis, and then gave up to dig a moat around his castle. Harry walked straight up to where Louis was trying to climb up one of the wavy slides, shoes slipping on the slick plastic. “Lou, have you seen Niall?”

 

“Um, no. I saw him on the swings a while ago but I don’t know where he is now. Is he missing?” Harry didn’t know how Louis had such intuition about these sorts of things, it still threw him.

 

“Just keep playing.” Harry walked away, fishing his phone out of his pocket. He tapped through his phone, getting Zayn’s number out of his contacts. He passed his phone between his hands, shifting his weight on both feet, juggling whether or not he wanted to press the call button. Sighing, he pressed the green button, sticking the phone to his ear.

 

“Harry, it’s been three minutes, I’m coming right back I swear!”

 

“Is Niall with you?”

 

“No, is he not with you?”

 

“No?” Harry whispered, panic rising in his chest.

 

“No?! Hold on, I’m coming back.” Zayn hung up and Harry bit his lip, doing another sweep of the playground for Niall in case he happened to show up. A moment later, Zayn ran up looking panicked. “He’s not on the swings?”

 

“No, I looked there already.”

 

“I was gone three minutes, Harry. Three minutes and you lose my son.”

 

“Dad? Where’s our ice cream?” Liam asked from the sandbox and Zayn stuck a hand out, pulling Liam up to stand.

 

“Niall’s missing, we have to find your brother.” Liam looked stricken and raced off to the playground to collect Louis.

 

“Lou! Louis! Niall’s missing, we gotta go find him!”

 

“What?! Why didn’t anyone tell me!” Louis ran to the fireman’s pole, jumping down and running back to them with Liam at his heels. “Where did he go?”

 

“We don’t know, but we need to find him. Liam, come with me and we’ll go to the left and Louis, go with Harry to the right.” Zayn pointed, down towards the open field and baseball diamond. “Call me with any updates.”

 

“Niall!”

 

“Ni, where are you?” Harry and Louis called every few feet, looking all over the park for any blonde at all, heart racing every time there was one and dropping when it wasn’t the right little blonde.

 

“Niall?”

 

“Niall, come out now! Niall!”

 

Harry heard faint familiar laughter and bolted towards it, Louis quick on his heels. By the baseball diamond, a teenaged girl with a huge golden retriever were playing fetch and Niall was helping throw a ball, petting the dog for returning it, giggling when he got licked in the face every time.

 

“Niall! There you are!” Harry scooped Niall up, squeezing him to his chest.

 

“Woah! I was jus’ playin’!” Niall giggled, hands grabbing at Harry’s hair. Harry squeezed tears of relief back, hugging Niall tightly like he would disappear again. Beside him, Harry heard Louis talking, realizing he must have dropped the phone when he saw Niall was okay.

 

“We found him, Papa.” Louis breathed into the phone. “By the baseball diamonds.”

 

“Don’t _ever_ go somewhere I can’t see you without telling me.” Harry admonished, finally setting Niall back down on his feet, kneeling to be at eye level. He put a hand to Niall’s cheek and Louis took his turn to hug him. A minute later, Zayn and Liam ran up, Zayn scooping up Niall to press kisses all over his face and Niall giggled and shrieked.

 

“I thought I’d lost you.” He murmured into Niall’s hair.

 

“I didn’t go nowhere, baba.” Niall whispered, feeling alarmed that everyone was hugging him so much. “Just playin’ with this puppy.”

 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know he ran off!” The girl said and Harry waved her off.

 

“It’s not your fault, Niall loves dogs.”

 

“Come on, Ni, let’s go get that ice cream, yeah?” Zayn settled Niall onto his hip, unwilling to let him out of his arms at all. “From now on don’t ever go somewhere without one of your brothers, okay? We want you to be safe.” Louis ran up to walk with Zayn and Niall and Liam hung back, slipping his smaller hand into Harry’s.

 

“Are you okay?” He asked Harry, looking relieved that they found Niall but concerned for Harry. He noticed that about Liam, despite their short time knowing each other. He had such a huge heart, Harry didn’t know how he kept it in his chest some days. Harry exhaled shakily, squeezing Liam’s hand who squeezed right back.

 

“It’s just, I lost him. That was my fault.”

 

“I don’t blame you, and I don’t think that dad does either. He might be angry at you for a minute but it’s because he cares about Niall a lot, obviously. Niall does get too easily distracted by things. He would probably run into the street if a puppy was on the other side.”

 

“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better, Liam.”

 

“I’m just happy he’s alright.”

 

“Me too.” Harry and Liam followed Zayn, Niall and Louis to the ice cream stand by the park, giving their orders to the two teenage girls behind the counter, giving extra sprinkles to all the boys’ cups with a wink.

 

~

 

“I don’t normally lose children.” Harry said later that night as he was packing up to leave.

 

“I’d hope not otherwise no one would ever hire you to babysit.”

 

“I mean, that’s not something that you need to worry about happening again. It won’t.” Harry put his bag over his shoulder, flipping the strap across his chest flat.

 

“You don’t know that, though, do you? You never know when something like that could happen, you can only _hope_ it won’t happen again.”

 

“Look, I’m trying to apologize!”

 

“I have yet to hear an apology.” Zayn said staring directly at Harry, fire in his eyes.

 

“I’m sorry!”

 

“Apology not accepted. Don’t come in tomorrow, we won’t be needing you.” Harry’s jaw dropped and he felt like he’d been kicked in the chest.

 

“W-what?”

 

“You’re fired.”

 

“I-”

 

“Harry get out, before I make you get out.” Zayn said nastily, walking away to end the conversation. Harry stood rooted to the spot, eyes filling with angry tears before he straightened, inhaled deeply and turned on his heel, striding out the front door without another word.

 

“Is Harry going away?” Niall asked in a small voice when Zayn got to his room.

 

“Yes, beta. I can’t lose you, not after what happened with your mum.” Zayn admitted freely, not one for keeping things from his boys. Niall’s face screwed up and he wailed loudly.

 

“I don’t want him to go!” Zayn hushed him, tucking the blanket under his chin. “I want ‘Arry to stay!” Niall hiccuped through tears. Behind Zayn, Liam stood at the door with a frown.

 

“Harry left us?”

 

“I told him he had to go, Li. He couldn’t keep track of Niall for three minutes, I don’t know what I would have done if we didn’t find him.” Zayn reached back, motioning for Liam to come over to the bed and settling him on a knee.

 

“He was really scared too, dad. It wasn’t on purpose.”

 

“It doesn’t matter, you three are the most important people in the world to me, I couldn’t bear it if I lost you.”

 

“I know that dad, but I think we need to give him a second chance. He was feeling bad about it after we found Niall, and I don’t think it’s fair that you don’t give him another chance.” Liam said sensibly and Zayn smile fondly.

 

“You know what, alright, Liam. I’ll give him one more chance for you. One. But I’m going to call daadi and have her come watch you boys for a while so I can calm down enough to look at him without wanting to knock his head off.” Zayn wiped the last tears away from Niall’s cheeks, he’d tired himself out crying and was already asleep. Zayn walked Liam out quietly, closing the door but not shutting it completely, a small crack open to hear in case Niall called out.

 

“Thanks dad. I really had fun with Harry, it was just his first day after all! People make mistakes.”

 

“It was a huge mistake, Li. I am gonna need time to be able to not be angry about it.” Zayn led Liam to the living room where Louis was quietly sorting through his prizes from the arcade. Liam joined him and Zayn watched over them as they passed treats between them. He knew that Harry didn’t mean it, but when his sons were involved, Zayn was stubborn and always had been.

 

~

 

When Harry got home he cried into his pillow, the anxiety and upset catching up with him and he let it all out, making a gross mess of the pillowcase.

 

“I fucked up so bad!” He yelled to the air, breathing shakily as it felt like the tears were done for the time being. The people in the apartment above him banged on the floor and yelled something he couldn’t make out. “Shut the fuck up!” He rolled over to call Nick and tell him about the disastrous day and thought better of it. Nick would just take the piss and Harry couldn’t deal with it now. Instead, he shucked off his shirt and jeans, pulling the covers up over his head so maybe he’d suffocate in his sleep and wouldn’t have to live with the open wound bleeding from his chest of his heart being ripped out by Zayn’s face as he yelled for Harry to get out. He’d only known Zayn for such a short time and already he knew he was lost. Harry always fell way too hard way too quickly. Zayn was _fit_ and such a great dad, thinking about it made his chest hurt worse.

 

It took Harry an extremely long time to finally fall asleep and he tossed and turned all night, giving up at around dawn, dragging himself out of bed like a zombie. He was allowing himself one day of pity party, because he only worked for one day and that was like the breakup rule for mourning and while it wasn’t a breakup at all, Harry still felt like he’d been broken up with. He poured a huge bowl of cereal for himself, taking it back to bed and eating it to morning cartoons.

 

At around noon, Nick called to ask about how his first day went and Harry couldn’t keep the tears out of his voice.

 

“Aw, Haz. What happened?”

 

“I lost one of the boys, Nick. I lost one! He was only playing with a dog a little down from where we were but I wasn’t keeping an eye on him when Zayn went to get ice cream and-”

 

“Harry, breathe babe.” Harry took a few deep inhales and recanted the story with as much detail as possible. Nick was quiet on the other end for a long minute, so quiet Harry thought he might have hung up. “It was an accident, right?”

 

“Of course!”

 

“Then I don’t see why you aren’t being given another chance. It was a mistake, but one you’re probably never going to make again now.”

 

“I said that, Nick, but he still fired me.”

 

“Then you just gotta move on, babe.” Harry didn’t like that idea, but it was the only sensible one at this point. He couldn’t go to Zayn himself, he didn’t want to look at Zayn’s face when he yelled at Harry like that ever again.

 

“Alright.” Harry said finally with a long exhale. He could move on from this. It wasn’t a break up. It was just another job he’d gotten fired from. Not a big deal at all.

 

~

  
Harry was just about able to go an hour without thinking about Zayn or one of the boys a week later, when his phone rang and Zayn’s contact information lit up his screen. All the air left his lungs as he picked up the phone, answering it shakily.

 

“Hello?” He breathed.

 

“Harry.” Zayn answered and Harry smiled despite himself. “I’m offering you one more chance. The boys miss you. I know it was an accident but I couldn’t bear the thought of losing Niall. Or Liam or Louis for that matter.”

 

“Thank you!” Harry nearly yelled, elation rushing to his fingertips. “It won’t ever happen again I promise you. I’ll keep a hand on Niall at all times! Handcuff them all to me, or have a string to keep them together like primary school field trips.”

 

“Let’s not get dramatic.”

 

“Sorry, I’m just so thankful for this opportunity, I can’t believe you’re giving me a second chance.”

 

“Well like I said, the boys really missed you. You certainly left an impact on them.” Hearing that made Harry feel like he was floating, the boys liked him! They thought he was important enough to actually miss, and for being there for one day that really left an impression with them.

 

“I missed them too.” Harry admitted, the _and you_ left unsaid on the tip of his tongue.

 

“Up for it tomorrow? My mum’s gonna be here so you’re on probation but if you impress her you might actually have a shot at sticking around.” Harry’s stomach did a twist like he was on a rollercoaster that just went over the first drop. _Meeting the parents_ , a voice in the back of his mind supplied and Harry kicked it away.

 

“No problem, of course. Thank you so much.” Zayn hung up and Harry kicked his legs in excitement, squealing. He threw an arm over his eyes, grinning so hard his cheeks hurt. He would not fuck it up this time.

 

Harry was going to be so charming Zayn didn’t know what hit him.

 

 


End file.
